Yea, a lot of people dont like me when i bring this up. But facts are facts. I read the article and, while I wish those Sabremetrics guys will have fun doing their work, the area of trends and Aramis is what is disturbing to me. To wit:
April (BA/OBP/Slug/OPS)
2003 .239/.317/.370/.687
2004 .308/.333/.626/.960
2005 .241/.344/.458/.802
2006 .197/.321/.394/.716
May
2003 .343/.379/.429/.808
2004 .306/.372/.500/.872
2005 .289/.324/.546/.870
2006 .236/.259/.436/.695 His splits this season are lefties .190/.749, righties .219/.700. In total now, his stats are .214/.296/.413/.709. And we are complaining about OBP and still championing this guy? He is last in BA among all qualified ML 3b (26th), 23rd in OBP, 18th in Slugging %, and 22nd in OPS. He ranks in the bottom 3 in all 4 categories in the NL. He is also 11th in the least number of pitches per plate appearance in the NL at 3.56, so i am not buying this pitching around thing. Careerwise he is .275/.327/.479/.806. That .806 career OPS is 4th amongst our divisional 3b behind Rolen (.889), Ensberg (.873), and Koskie (.827). Edwin Encarnacion has a (.802) and Joe Randa (.765) for the Pirates are the 2 remaining. Interestingly enough, Randa is on the DL and Freddie Sanchez is now playing for him, and he has a .863 OPS for this season (although his career is .725). So why does Aramis get the free pass, and Jones and Pierre get picked on? Especially Jones and his lefty split? Oh, its because we KNOW Aramis will come around. What if he doesnt? What if the trend/slide continues? Do we really want to keep paying this guy $11M a year if he isnt performing? This guy is supposed to be hitting the peak in his career while nearing his 28th birthday. And it looks as if he is going downhill. Only thing i see besides a slightly lower HR/AB ratio this season is a few more fly ball outs (81% as opposed to his career avg of 87%). Is the power not there anymore?